I found this new physics article that might help explain cold fusion and LENR at the surfaces of palladium, platinum and nickel.
http://advances.sciencemag.org…d=49247736&et_cid=1560550
The atomic orbital shapes at the very surface of the metal are oriented differntly than inside the solid parts. Their elliptical shapes might have something to do with fusion of adsorbed deuterium atoms and nickel proton reactions. The various LENR reactors that excite the catalyst with electric fields and pulses of electricity might be altering those orbitals too.